Lesotho Crushes Mutiny -- 4 Soldiers Die In Fighting

January 19, 1986|By Los Angeles Times

JOHANNESBURG — A military mutiny was crushed Saturday in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho after two days of fighting that left four people dead.

At the capital in Maseru, government spokesman Desmond Sixishe said 35 soldiers from the paramilitary force that serves as the country's army had rebelled and fought back when other troops sought to disarm them.

The fighting, which began Friday at an army barracks south of Maseru and later spread to other areas around the capital, climaxed a week of political turmoil in Lesotho caused by a virtual blockade by South Africa of medicine, food and fuel.

Sixishe said that two rebels and two loyal soldiers were killed in the clashes and that a number of others were wounded. The South African press put the number of deaths as high as 17.

Sixishe, lifting a news blackout on the mutiny, would give no details of the fighting nor of the events that led up to it.

''While some of those members of the paramilitary force who refused to obey orders remain at large and are being pursued, the incident is basically over,'' Sixishe said. ''Its importance should not be exaggerated. The stability of the government was not at stake. No coup d'etat was attempted.'' Sixishe said that the mutiny stemmed largely from differences over military policy between Maj. Gen. Justin Lekhanya, commander of the paramilitary unit, and the two officers who led the rebels. But political sources in Maseru said the underlying issue was the continued leadership of the country by Chief Leabua Jonathan, prime minister for the past 20 years.